The character of the book of Psalms

The Book of Psalms has evidently a peculiar character. It is
not the history of God's people, or of God's ways with them, nor
is it the inculcation of positive doctrines or duties, nor the
formal prophetic announcement of coming events. Many important
events, doubtless, are alluded to in them, and they are
immediately connected with various prophetic revelations (as,
indeed, with precepts and all the other parts of the divine word
to which I have just referred); but none of these form the true
character of the book itself. The subjects too, of which the
various parts of scripture I refer to treat, necessarily find
their place in the thoughts expressed in the Psalms. But the
Psalms do not directly treat of them.

The Psalms as the expression of the hearts of God's people and
the work of the Spirit

The Psalms are almost all the expression of the sentiments
produced in the hearts of God's people by the events (or I should
speak more correctly if I said, prepared for them in the events),
through which they pass, and indeed express the feelings, not only
of the people of God, but often, as is known, those of the Lord
Himself. They are the expression of the part the Spirit of God
takes, as working in their hearts, in the sorrows and exercises of
the saints. The Spirit works in connection with all the trials
through which they pass, and the human infirmity which appears in
those trials; in the midst of which it gives thoughts of faith and
truth which are a provision for them in all that happens. We find
in them consequently the hopes, fears, distress, confidence in
God, which respectively fill the minds of the saints sometimes the
part which the Lord Himself takes personally in them, and that,
occasionally, exclusive of all but Himself, the place which He has
held that He might so sympathise with them. Hence a maturer
spiritual judgment is required to judge rightly of the true
bearing and application of the Psalms than for other parts of
scripture; because we must be able to understand what
dispensationally gives rise to them, and judge of the true place
before God of those whose souls' wants are expressed in them; and
this is so much the more difficult as the circumstances, state,
and relationship with God, of the people whose feelings they
express are not those in which we find ourselves. The piety they
breathe is edifying for every time; the confidence they often
express in God in the midst of trial has cheered the heart of many
a tried servant of God in his own. This feeling is carefully to be
preserved and cherished; yet it is for that very reason so much
the more important that our spiritual judgment should recognise
the position to which the sentiments contained in the Psalms
refer, and which gives form to the piety which is found in
them. Without doing this, the full power of redemption and the
force of the gospel of the grace of God is lost for our own souls;
and many expressions which have shocked the christian mind,
unobservant of their true bearing and application, remain obscure
and even unintelligible.

The heart that places itself in the position described in the
Psalms returns back to experiences which belong to a legal state,
and to one under discipline for failure and trial in that state,
and to the hopes of an earthly people. A legal and, for a
Christian, unbelieving state is sanctioned in the mind: we rest
content in a spiritual state short of the knowledge of redemption;
and while we think to retain the Psalms for ourselves, we keep
ourselves in a state of soul in which we are deprived of the
intelligence of their true use and our own privileges, and become
incapable of the real understanding of, and true delight in, the
Psalms themselves; and, what is more we miss the blessed and
deeply instructive apprehension of the tender and gracious
sympathies of Christ in their true and divinely given
application. The appropriating spirit of selfishness does not
learn Christ as He is, as He is revealed, and the loss is really
great. There are comforts and ministrations of grace for a soul
under the law in the Psalms, because they apply to those under the
law (and souls in that state have been relieved by them); but to
use them in order to remain in this state, and to apply them
prominently to ourselves, is, I repeat, to misapply the Psalms
themselves, lose the power of what is given to us in them, and
deprive ourselves of the true spiritual position in which the
gospel sets us. The difference is simple and evident. Relationship
with the Father is not, cannot be introduced in them, and we live
out of that if we live in them, though obedience and confiding
dependence be ever our right path.

The meaning and object of the Spirit of God in the psalms

I purpose in this study of the Psalms to examine the book as a
whole, and each of the Psalms, so as to give a general idea of
it. The most profitable manner of doing this (though the character
of the Book of Psalms renders it more difficult here) will be, as
I have attempted in the books we have already considered to give
the meaning and object of the Spirit of God, leaving the
expression of the precious piety which it contains to the heart
that alone is capable of estimating it, namely, one that feeds on
Jesus through the grace of the Spirit of God.

The Psalms, and the workings of the Spirit of God expressed in
them, belong properly in their application and true force to the
circumstances of Judah and Israel, and are altogether founded on
Israel's hopes and fears: and, I add, to the circumstances of
Judah and Israel in the last days, though as to the moral state of
things those last days began with the rejection of Christ. The
piety and confidence in God with which they are filled find an
echo, no doubt, in every believing heart, but this exercise, as
expressed here, is in the midst of Israel. This judgment, of which
the truth is evidently demonstrated by the reading of the Psalms
themselves, is sanctioned by the Apostle Paul. He says, after
citing the Psalms, "Now we know that whatsoever things the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law."

Their primary character: the remnant and Christ Himself

The Psalms then concern Judah and Israel, and the position in
which those who belong to Judah and Israel are found. Their
primary character is the expression of the working of the Spirit
of Christ as to, or in, the remnant of the Jews* (or of Israel) in
the last days. He enters into all their sorrows, giving expression
to their confessions, their confidence of faith, their hopes,
fears, thankfulness for deliverances obtained in a word, to every
exercise of their hearts in the circumstances in which they find
themselves in the last days; so as to afford them the leading, the
sanction, and the sympathy of the Spirit of Christ, and utterance
to the working of that Spirit in them and even in Christ
Himself. In addition to this, the Psalms present to us the place
which Christ Himself when on earth took among them, in order to
their having part in His sympathies, and to make their deliverance
possible, and their confidence in God righteous, though they had
sinned against Him. They do not as the Epistles, reason on the
efficacy of His work; but in the Psalms which apply to Him,
present His feeling in accomplishing it. They intimate to us also
the place He took in heaven on His rejection, and ultimately on
the throne of the kingdom, but, save His present exaltation (which
is only mentioned as a fact necessary to introduce, and to give
the full character to Israel's ultimate deliverance), all that is
revealed of the Lord in this His connection with Israel is
expressed, not in narration but in the utterance of His own
feelings in regard to the place He is in, as is the case with the
remnant themselves. This feature it is which gives its peculiar
character and interest to the Psalms.

{*This so distinctly characterises the Psalms that there are
very few indeed even of those which are prophetic of Christ, where
the remnant is not found. In the second book they are not, because
that element is distinctly presented as the primary subject in the
first: the connection being moral through His entering into their
sorrows in grace, this is easily understood. And it is necessary
to remember this, to account for various passages in which they
come in, though partly applicable to, or used by; Christ. See
pp. 46, 47, 48, 50, and 51.}

Christ entering into the full depths of suffering with and for
His people

They teach us thus that Christ entered into the full depths of
suffering which made Him the vessel of sympathising grace with
those who had to pass through them and that as seeing and pleading
with God in respect of them. In the path of His own humiliation,
He got the tongue of the learned to know how to speak a word in
season to him that was weary. They were sinners, could claim no
exemption, count on no favour which could deliver and
restore. They must, if He had not suffered for them, have taken
the actual sufferings they had to undergo in connection with the
guilt which left them in them without favour. But this was not
God's thought; He was minded to deliver them, and Christ steps in
in grace. He takes the guilt of those that should be
delivered. That was vicarious suffering as a substitute. And He
places Himself in the path of perfect obedience and love in the
sorrow through which they had to pass. As obedient, He entered
into that sorrow so as to draw down, through the atonement, the
efficacy of God's delivering favour on those who should be in it,
and be the pledge, in virtue of all this, of their deliverance out
of it as standing thus for them, the sustainer of their hope in
it, so that they should not fail.

Trial to bring the sense of guilt in a broken law and a
rejected and crucified Messiah

Still, they must pass through sorrow, according to the
righteous ways of God, in respect of their folly and wickedness,
and to purify them inwardly from it. Into all this sorrow Christ
entered, as He also bore their sins, to be a spring of life and
sustainer of faith to them in it, when the hand of oppression
should be heavy without, and the sense of guilt terrible within
and hence no sense of favour, but that One who had assured to them
and could convey this favour had taken up their cause with God,
and passed through it for them. The full efficacy indeed of His
work in their deliverance, in that one Man's dying for the nation,
will not be known by them till they look on Him whom they have
pierced. They are purposely left (and especially the remnant,
because of their integrity; for the rest will join the idolatrous
Gentiles for peace' sake) in the depth of trial, which, as ways of
God in government, brings them through grace to the sense of their
guilt in a broken law and a rejected and crucified Messiah, that
they may truly now what each of them is, and bow before an
offended Jehovah in integrity of heart, and say, "Blessed be he
that cometh in the name of Jehovah."

The psalms under law and under grace

But, though the deliverance and a better salvation be not to
come till then, still, in virtue of the work wrought to effect it,
Christ can sustain and lead on their souls to it; and that is just
what is done in these Psalms. These are His language to, or rather
in, their souls when they are in the trouble sometimes the record
of how He has learned it. Hence too, souls yet under the law find
such personal comfort under them. Let not any soul, let me remark
in passing, suppose that deep heart interest in these sorrows of
Christ is lost by passing from under the law to be under
grace. There is immense gain. The difference is this instead of
using them merely selfishly (though surely rightly) for my own
wants and sorrows, I, when under grace, enter in adoring
contemplation and joyful love into all Christ's sorrows, in the
deeper competency given by His Spirit dwelling in me. I go back
now in peace, as He is on high, and I trace with divinely given
interest and understanding (whatever my measure) all the sorrows
through which He passed when here, tracing this "path of life" in
love to us across a world of sin and woe, glorifying God in it,
through death itself, to the righteous glory in which He now
is. Christ comforted His disciples in John 14, though not indeed
as under law, but He says at the close, "If ye loved me, ye would
rejoice because I said, I go to the Father." Under law the Psalms
may comfort us in profitable distress; under grace we enjoy them
as loving Christ and with divine intelligence.

The distinction between Christ and the remnant

But to return. The great foundation which had to be laid to make
sympathy possible was, that Christ did not escape where the
remnant of Israel will,* because He must suffer the full penalty
of the guilt and evil, or He could not righteously and for God's
glory deliver them. Thus Christ must pass personally fully through
the sorrow as He did in spirit; and besides that, make atonement
for the guilt. He passed through it, save in atonement work, near
to God; and makes all the grace and favour of God towards Him, all
that He found God to be for Him in sorrow, available, through the
atonement, to those who should come to be in it, that they might
thus have all the mind of God towards them in grace in that case
to use when they found themselves in it, even though in
darkness. If it be said, How can they when they have not yet
learned that God is for them in the atonement? These Psalms,
entering into every detail, are precisely the means of their doing
so according to Isaiah 50, as already referred to. In truth, many
Christians are in this state. They cling to promise, feel their
sins, are comforted by hope, see the goodness of God, use the
Psalms as suiting them, and do not know redemption nor peace.

{*It is in the point of death that the sufferings of Christ,
whether for righteousness' sake, and that which He underwent to be
able to sympathise with them when they suffer under the government
of God, on the one hand, or atonement on the other the latter
prefigured in the burnt and sin-offering (compare Heb. 9), the
former the expression and testing of perfectness in the
meat-offering meet. Christ suffered onward up to death. Then He
also made atonement for sin. Some of the remnant may suffer unto
death, as faithful under the trials of this government; but then,
like Christ, they will obtain a better resurrection Of course, the
atoning part is exclusively His.}

The Psalms, then, belong properly to Israel,* and in Israel to
the godly remnant. This is the first general principle, which the
word itself establishes for us, as we have seen stated by Paul
What they say, they say to those under the law.

{*I here use Israel as contrasted with the Assembly and
Gentiles We shall see Judah distinguished from Israel when we
enter into details.}

The faithful remnant distinguished from the rest of the nation

In examining the Psalms themselves, we shall find other elements
of this judgment, which are very clear and positive. The Psalms
distinguish (Psalm 73) and commence by distinguishing (Psalm 1)
the man who is faithful and godly, according to the law, from the
rest of the nation. "The ungodly are not so," nor shall they
"stand in the congregation of the righteous." Indeed, Isaiah
teaches the same truth doctrinally just as strongly.* Their
characteristic subject is the true believing remnant, the
righteous in Israel (Psalm 16: 3 and many others). It is,
therefore, the portion and hope of Israel which are in view in
them. In Psalm 1 this is definitely and distinctly presented. But
it is the hope of a remnant, whose portion is from the
commencement distinguished in the most marked way from that of the
wicked.

{*Compare Isaiah 48: 22; Isaiah 57: 21.}

The Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of prophecy, speaking in the psalms

Again, it is evident (and it is the second general principle I
would notice), that it is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of
prophecy, which speaks. That is to say, it is the Spirit of Christ
interesting Himself in the condition of the faithful remnant of
Israel. This Spirit speaks of things to come as if they were
present, as is always the case with the prophets. But this does
not make it the less true that it is a spirit of prophecy which
speaks of the future, and which in this respect often resumes its
natural character. But if the Spirit of Christ is interested in
the remnant of Israel, Christ's own sufferings must be announced,
which were the complete proof of that interest, and without which
it would have been unavailing. And we find, in fact, the most
touching expressions of the sufferings of Christ, not
historically, but just as He felt then, expressed as by His own
lips at the moment He endured them.* It is always the Spirit
(cp. 1 Peter 1: 11) of Christ that speaks, as taking part Himself
in the affliction and grief of His people, whether it is by His
Spirit in them or Himself for them, as the sole means in presence
of the just judgment of God, of delivering a beloved though guilty
people. Hence we see the beautiful fitness of the language of the
Psalms in a point I shall touch upon farther on. In the Psalms
which speak properly of atonement Christ is alone, and thus His
work is secured. In those which speak of sufferings not atoning in
their nature, even though they go on up to death, parts may be
found personally applicable to Christ, because He did personally
and individually go through them, but in other parts of the same
Psalms the saints also are brought in because they will have a
share in them, and thus His personal sufferings are presented to
us, but His sympathy too is secured.

{*Hence the intimacy of feeling and peculiar interest of the
Psalms. They are the beating of the heart of Him, the history of
whose circumstances, the embodying of whose life, in relationship
with God and man, whose external presentation, in a word, and all
God's ways in respect of it, are found in the rest of
scripture.}

Earthly deliverance sought; sins felt and confessed

Another principle connects itself with this, which gives the
third great characteristic of the Psalms. The sins of the people
would morally hinder the remnant's having confidence in God in
their distress. Yet God alone can deliver them, and to Him they
must look in integrity of heart.

We find both these points brought out: the distresses are laid
before God, seeking for deliverance; and integrity is pleaded and
the sins confessed at the very same time. Christ, having come into
their sorrows, as we have seen, and made atonement, can lead them
in spite of their sins and about their sins, to God. They do not
indeed know at first perhaps the full forgiveness, but they go in
the sense of grace as led by Christ's Spirit, (and how many souls
are practically in this state!)* in expressions provided in these
very Psalms, to the God of deliverances, confessing their sins
also. They "take with them words and return to the Lord."
Forgiveness also is presented to them. The Spirit of Christ being
livingly in them (that is, as a principle of life), and fixing the
purpose of their heart, they can, through confessing their sin,
plead unfeignedly their integrity and fidelity to God. But the
thought of mercy everywhere precedes that of righteousness as
their ground of hope. In substance, all this is true of every
renewed soul who has not yet found liberty, the liberty obtained
by known redemption. The Psalms, unless certain praises at the
close of the book and the end of some others, are never the
expression of this liberty: and even when the expression of it is
found, it is that of earthly deliverance or forgiveness.

{*The state of the prodigal till he met his Father the state of
every soul, where the God who is light and love has been revealed
in Christ; but redemption-work, and acceptance in Him are not
known there is confidence, but not peace.}

The psalms the expression of the Spirit of Christ in a Jewish
remnant or in Christ as suffering for them

In sum, then, the Psalms are the expression of the Spirit of
Christ, either in the Jewish remnant (or in that of all Israel),
or in His own Person as suffering for them, in view of the
counsels of God with respect to His elect earthly people. And
since these counsels are to be accomplished more particularly in
the latter days, it is the expression of the Spirit of Christ in
this remnant in the midst of the events which will take place in
those days, when God begins to deal again with His earthly
people. The moral sufferings connected with those events have been
more or less verified in the history of Christ on the earth; and
whether in His life, or, yet more, in His death, He is linked with
the interests and with the fate of this remnant. In Christ's
history, at the time of His baptism by John, He already identified
Himself with those that formed this remnant; not with the
impenitent multitude of Israel, but with the first movement of the
Spirit of God in these "excellent of the earth," which led them to
recognise the truth of God in the mouth of John, and to submit to
it. Now it is in this remnant that the promises made to Israel
will be accomplished; so that, while only a remnant, their
affections and hopes are those of the nation. On the cross, Jesus
remained the only true faithful one before God in Israel the
personal foundation of the whole remnant that was to be delivered,
as well as the accomplisher of that work on which their
deliverance could be founded.

The threefold sufferings of Christ during life and on the cross

There are some further general observations on a point to which
I have already alluded, which, while in a great measure they are
drawn from the Psalms themselves, yet, through the light the
Gospels also cast on it, may aid us in seeing the spirit of the
whole book, and entering into the purport of many psalms in
detail. I mean the sufferings of Christ. We have seen in general
already that the book brings before us the remnant, its sorrows,
hopes, and deliverance, and Christ's association with them in all
these. He has entered into their sorrows, will be their deliverer,
and has wrought the atonement which lays the foundation of their
deliverance, as it does of the deliverance of any living soul but
He died for that nation. Of course His own perfection shines out
in this; but here we are to look for its connection with Israel
and the earth, though His personal exaltation to heaven be
mentioned, from which their final deliverance flows. We are not,
however, to look for the mystery of the assembly, which at this
time was hid in God, nor for Christ viewed in His associations
with the assembly. The Psalms furnish most exquisitely all the
earthly experiences of Christ and His people which the Spirit of
Christ would bring before us. We must look to the New Testament
(as in Philippians, for example, and elsewhere) to find the
heavenly ones of those He has redeemed.

Now Christ passed through every kind of moral suffering the
human heart can go through, was tempted in all points like as we
are, sin apart. Nor can anything be more fruitful in its place
(for it must not be too long dwelt on in itself, and entirely
separated from the divine side of His character, or it becomes
profitless or hurtful, because really fleshly sentiment), than to
have the heart engaged in contemplating the sorrows of the blessed
Redeemer. Never were any like His. But the Psalms will bring them
before us, and I refrain from entering on them here. In these
introductory remarks, I can only shortly refer to the principles
on which, and the positions in which, He suffered. There are, I
think, three. He suffered from man for righteousness and love, for
the testimony He bore in that which was good, in which He bore
testimony to and revealed, God: He suffered from God for
sin. These two distinct characters of suffering are very simple
and plain to every believer's mind. The third kind of suffering
supposes somewhat more attention to scripture. It is said of
Jehovah's ways with Israel, "In all their affliction he was
afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them." This was (as
to the last part, yet will be) most especially fulfilled in
Christ, Jehovah come as man in the midst of Israel. But the
sufferings of Israel, at least of the remnant of the Jewish
portion of the people, take a peculiar character at the
close. They are under the oppression of Gentile power, in the
midst of utter iniquity in Israel, yet are characterised by
integrity of heart (indeed, this is what makes them the remnant),
but conscious of, for that very reason, and suffering under, the
present general consequences of sin under the government of God
and the power of Satan and death. The deliverance which frees them
from it not being yet come, the weight of these things is on their
spirits. Into this sorrow Christ has also fully entered. 42

Sufferings from man and from God

During His whole life, up even to death itself, He suffered from
man for righteousness' sake (see, in connection with this Psalm 11
and others). Besides this, on the cross He suffered for sin, drank
the cup of wrath for sin, the cup His Father had given Him to
drink. But besides these two kinds of suffering He bore in His
soul, at the close of His life (we may say from after the paschal
supper), all the distress and affliction under which the Jews will
come through the government of God not condemnation, but still the
consequence of sin. No doubt He had anticipated, and, so far felt
it, as in John 12 the coming cross; but now He entered into it. It
was, as to the point we are now on, as He said, apostate Israel's
hour then and the power of darkness. But He was still looking to
His Father in the sense of faithfulness. Nor was He yet forsaken
of God. He could still look to man's watching with Him. What could
watching do when divine wrath was upon Him? But the distinctive
character of these kinds of suffering is clearly seen if we, as
taught of God, weigh the psalms which speak of them
respectively. Thus we shall see that, when He suffers from man, He
looks, as speaking by His Spirit in and for Israel, for vengeance
on man. Others too are then often seen to suffer with Him. When He
suffers from God, He is wholly alone, and the consequences are
unmingled blessing and grace. As to suffering from man, we can
have the privilege of so suffering, having the fellowship of His
sufferings. In suffering from God as under wrath, He did so that
we might never have the least drop whatever of that cup; it would
have been our everlasting ruin. In the sufferings He underwent
under Satan's power, and darkness, and death, when not yet
actually drinking the cup of wrath, besides what was due to the
majesty of God in view of this see Heb. 2: 10), He suffered to
sympathise with the Jews in their afflictions, which they come
into through their integrity and yet in their sins. Every awakened
soul under the law will find comfort in this. All these sufferings
are entered into in the Psalms as to Christ and as to Israel. But
the Jews passed into utter ruin, and loss of all the promises
(save sovereign grace), and the remnant into their place of trial
and sorrow as such, by the rejection of Messiah.

On the cross

It is to be remembered that, though all three principles of
suffering are essentially different, and all very clear and
important in their character, at the close of Christ's life all
coalesced and united in the sorrows of His last hours save that I
doubt not, in coming out of Gethsemane, the pressure of Satan's
power on His spirit had been gone through and was over, but on the
cross He suffered from man for righteousness, and from God for sin
only. I am persuaded that this last, when fully on His soul, was
too deep to leave it possible for the other or anything else to be
much felt.

Having made these general observations, which appeared to me
necessary to understand the book, we will now examine, with the
Lord's help, its contents; and may He indeed guide both myself and
my reader in doing it! If it does depict Christ's sufferings and
His interest in His people on earth, it behoves us to search into
it reverently, yet with child-like confidence, and to wait as
indeed we ever should upon His teaching, that we may be led and
taught in our search. That which speaks of what He felt should be
touched with confiding love, but with holy reverence.

The five books of the psalms

It is generally known that the Psalms are divided into five
books, the first of which ends with Psalm 41; the second, with
Psalm 72; the third, with Psalm 89; the fourth, with Psalm 106;
and the fifth, with Psalm 150. Each of these books is
distinguished, I doubt not, by an especial subject. Our
examination of the Psalms contained in each will give the fullest
insight into the character of the several books; but it may be
well to give here a general notion of their contents.

The first book: the state of the Jewish remnant in Jerusalem

The subject of the first book is the state of the Jewish remnant
before they have been driven out of Jerusalem, and hence of Christ
Himself in connection with this remnant. We have more indeed of
the personal history of Christ in the first than in all the
rest. This will be readily understood, as He was thus going in and
out with the remnant, while yet associated with Jerusalem. I use
Jewish here in contradistinction with Israel or the whole nation.

The second book: the remnant cast out of Jerusalem

In the second book, the remnant are viewed as cast out of
Jerusalem (Christ, of course, taking this place with them and
giving its true place of hope to the remnant in this condition)
The introduction of Christ, however, restores them, in the view of
prophecy, to their position in relationship with Jehovah as a
people before God (Psalm 45, Psalm 46). Previously, when cast out,
they speak of God (Elohim) rather than Jehovah, for they have lost
covenant blessings; but by this they learn to know Him much
better. I doubt not, the history of Christ's life afforded
occasion to His entering into the practical personal sense of thus
condition of the people, though, of course, less historically His
place in general. In Psalm 51 the remnant own the nation's (more
precisely the Jews') guilt in rejecting Him.*

{*I think it will be found that the first two books are
somewhat distinguishable from the last three. The first two are
more Christ personally among the Jews; the last three, more
national and historical. And so Psalm 72, the last part of the
first two books, closes with the Solomon reign.}

The third book: national deliverance and restoration of Israel

In the third book we have the deliverance and restoration of
Israel as a nation, and God's ways towards them as such
(Jerusalem, at the close, being the centre of His blessing and
government). The dreadful effect of their being under the law, and
the centring of all mercies in Christ are brought out in Psalm 88
and Psalm 89, closing with the cry for the accomplishing of the
latter. Electing grace in royalty for deliverance, when all was
lost, is presented in Psalm 87.

The fourth book: Jehovah the dwelling-place of Israel

In the fourth, we have Jehovah at all times the dwelling place
of Israel. Israel is delivered by the coming of Jehovah. It may,
in its main contents, be characterised as the bringing in the
Only-begotten into the world. Jehovah having been always Israel's
dwelling-place, they look for His deliverance. For this the
Abrahamic and millennial names of God, Almighty and Most High, are
introduced. And where is He to be found? Messiah says, "I seek
them in Jehovah, the God of Israel." There He is indeed
found. Thus there will be judgment on the wicked, and the
righteous delivered. The full divine nature of Messiah, once cut
off, is brought in to lay the ground for His having a part in the
latter-day blessings, though once cut off. He is the unchangeable
living Jehovah, the Creator. Then comes blessing on Israel,
creation, judgment of the heathen, that Israel might enjoy the
promises. But it is the same mercy which has so often spared them.

The fifth book: God's ways rehearsed, closing with triumphant praise

The last book is more general, a kind of moral on all, the close
being triumphant praise.

Having spoken of the details of their restoration, through
difficulties and dangers, and God's title to the whole land, the
wickedness of the antichristian tool of the enemy, the exaltation
of Messiah to Jehovah's right hand till His enemies are made His
footstool, and the earthly people made willing in the day of His
power we have then a rehearsal of God's ways, a commentary on the
whole condition of Israel and what they have passed through, and
the principles on which they stand before God, the law being
written in their hearts. Then the closing praises.

The order of the psalms, the stamp of the hand of the Spirit of God

As this rapid sketch will have shown (and the details I shall
now enter on will show more clearly still), there is far more
order in the Psalms than is generally supposed by those who take
them up as each an isolated ode to serve as the expression of
individual piety. They are not connected, it is true, in one
continuous discourse or history, as other parts of scripture may
be; but they express in a regular and orderly way distinct parts
of the same subject; that is, as we have seen, the state of the
remnant of the Jews or Israel in the latter day, their feelings,
and Messiah's association with them. These topics are treated in
the most orderly way. The Spirit of God, who has superintended the
structure, as He has inspired the contents of the whole scripture,
has stamped the unequivocal traces of His hand on this especial
part of it. Who collected these divine songs, the work of diverse
authors, and written at different epochs, I do not pretend to
say. This the learning of divines may discuss; but the result
cannot, I think, leave a doubt on the mind of any one who enters
into their purport as to whose power wrought in it.

I have already noticed generally the subject of each of the
five books. The distinction of subject I found in them had led me
to divide the whole Book of Psalms in the same way, before my
attention had been drawn to the well-known fact of its being so
divided in the Hebrew Bible. But this principle of order is
carried out also in the details of each of the books This order in
the first book, and the contents of the psalms which compose it,
are now to occupy us. It is, perhaps, the most complete in the
general and characteristic view it gives of the subjects treated
of in the Psalms, and so far the most interesting. The others
naturally pursue more the details which carry out the general idea
thus given.

The principle running through the book

It will be remarked that the following principle runs through
it, and indeed, more or less, the others when it is applicable
some great truth or historical fact is brought forward as to
Christ or the remnant, or both, and then a series of psalms
follows, expressing the feelings and sentiments of the remnant in
connection with that truth or fact.